The subject invention relates to a method and apparatus for deskewing sheets as they are transported along a path. (By "sheets" herein is meant substantially planar, rectangular objects. ) More particularly the subject invention relates to a method and apparatus for deskewing sheets of paper, envelopes or completed mailpieces as they are transported through a mail production system.
As sheets such as envelopes or completed mailpieces are transported through various types of mail production equipment, such sheets will frequently become skewed. That is the sheets will be slightly rotated so that the leading and trailing edges of the sheets are no longer normal to the direction of the path along which these sheets are transported. Thus, such mail production systems frequently include one or more mechanisms for deskewing these sheets as they are transported. While such mechanisms have generally been satisfactory for their intended purpose they have also been relatively complex and expensive. Typically, such deskewing mechanisms would require a sensor which would generate a signal when a sheet approached the deskewing mechanism and some form of motor or actuator, responsive to the signal for driving a relatively complex, multi-element mechanism to deskew the sheet. Additionally, such mechanisms frequently required that the transport of the sheet be halted while the deskewing operation was carried out.
Thus, it is an object of the subject invention to provide a simple mechanism for deskewing sheets as they are transported along a path.